9:30 AM
Gloria hummed a tune to herself as she walked around outside. Most of the people had filed out of the church, with only a few stragglers left. Mandy had gone home already, no doubt to recover from her tickling, and Alicia had gone to take her test, leaving only Rod unaccounted for. He was probably still in the confessional booth with Dawn. It had been some time since the two had been paired up, and Gloria imagined Dawn was taking her time with Rod.
Gloria felt her jealousy start to flare up and firmly steered her thoughts away from Rod and Dawn. The day was simply too nice to waste with negative thoughts. Gloria hummed a little louder, trying to drown out the voice of agitation in her mind, and decided to go for a walk on the church grounds. Gloria was sure her mother would call her cell if she finished up before Gloria got back.
Gloria slowly walked around to the back of the church. The church, much like everything else in Stocksvill, was surrounded by dense forest, but it also had a rather large and impressive flower garden. It wasn’t only a flower garden though.
Every year since the end of World War II (where Stocksvill had done its part by supplying lumber, not to mention more than a few good and willing men) they had an annual festival. It was done to celebrate the birth of Stocksvill, and as one would expect, the church was heavily involved in the festivals.
Aside from what the standard festival games, there were several contests that specifically focused on Stocksvill's lumberjacking history. There was the axe throwing contest, tree climbing, log sawing, and tree cutting. Gloria’s father had been excellent at that particular competition, winning and holding the title until his untimely death. Tad's father, not surprisingly, had been the closest person to beat him. Tad was expected to compete this year, and was a heavy favorite to win in his age category.
Last but not least came the wood carving competition. While the other competitions were certainly respected, the winner of the wood carving competition was given a particular honor: the winning carving would be placed behind the church in the flower garden. A special podium would be set up to hold the carving, with the name of the carving, the person who made it, and the year it won the competition inscribed on a brass plaque.
Gloria walked amongst the flowers and carvings, taking a moment to breathe in the sweet scent. All around her were different carvings. Most of them were religious. Mother Mary was a favorite, along with Jesus. There were a few non-religious ones too, like a nice carving of a lion, and another of a Canadian goose. She was tempted to reach out and touch one of them, to feel the smoothness of their finish under her fingers. Gloria didn’t though. The carvings were not to be touched by anybody, save members of the church while they were either cleaning them or moving them inside to protect them from the elements. They were also given a healthy coating of lacquer to make them even more resistant to weather and age.
Looking at the carvings, Gloria’s eyes caught sight of a carving of a grizzly bear and she was reminded of a gift she had been given by Rod when she had been ten. It was one of her most cherished possession and sat on her dresser in her room.
Gloria, when she was younger, had a stuffed bear. Yes, it was much more common for girls to have dolls, and she had certainly had those, but she also had a stuffed teddy bear. It had been a gift from her father when she was just little and she cherished it. When she was ten years old, of course, she didn’t play with teddy bears anymore, but it was still precious to her, and she kept it in her room.
One day, however, Gloria’s teddy bear somehow ended up in one of the boxes of items and clothing Dawn delivered to Goodwill. Just how this happened was still a highly contested subject between mother and daughter.
Gloria didn't notice the absence of her beloved bear until a few days later. She tore her room apart and then approached her mother, who helped her give the house an extremely thorough search. Finally the two of them decided to see if the unthinkable had happened, and drove down to the Goodwill.
Upon arriving at the Goodwill and talking to a few of the associates, Gloria and Dawn learned, much to their horror, that there had indeed been a stuffed bear in one of the boxes Dawn had delivered, but the bear was already gone.
Gloria was devastated. She cried all the way home. Nothing Dawn could say was able to console her daughter. Part of this was because Gloria blamed her mother for the loss of the bear. To Dawn's credit, she accepted the blame at the time, feeling her daughter needed somebody to blame at the moment more than somebody to turn the accusing finger back on her.
Gloria went right to her room when she got home and spent the rest of the night crying into her pillow, despite her mother’s best efforts to cheer her up. Gloria’s mood didn’t improve much over the next week. She told her friends what happened, and they were certainly sympathetic. They knew how much that bear had meant to Gloria. However, they had as little luck at brightening her mood as her mother had.
Then one day, about three weeks after the loss of her teddy bear, Rod knocked on her door. Somewhat sheepishly, Rod proceeded to give her a six inch wooden carving of the bear she had lost. For a ten year old, the carving quality was exceptional. Rod had even taken a tiny chunk of the left ear off to match a piece missing from the left ear of her bear. It had been sanded smooth, and painted a light brown to match the color of her bear. There was even two tiny buttons for the eyes.
Gloria fell in love with it as soon as she saw it. She had thrown her arms around Rod, squeezing the life out of him and probably kissed him on the face half a dozen times. Of course, back then the kisses hadn’t been romantic. They had just been her way of expressing her thanks.
Sadly, Rod didn’t carve anymore. Well, he did whittle things now and then, and they were decent enough, but they simply lacked real effort. But then, that was Rod. Enough to get by, but never really pushing himself. He had been like that since…
Gloria stopped in mid-thought, sniffing the air. A familiar smell was wafting up from one of the tool sheds close to the flower garden. Gloria tiptoed towards the tool shed and peered inside. “Ha! Gotcha!” Gloria grinned at the lone occupant of the tool shed.
“So, wha’dya want, a medal?” Came the playful response of the young man sitting in the shed, wearing his frock, and smoking a joint. A baseball cap sat on his head.
Randall Quid was one of the youngest members of the church at the age of twenty seven. His little sister, Mina, was the youngest member of the church clergy at twenty three. Randall was considered one of the “Cooler” members of the clergy in Stocksvill. He still hung out with a younger crowd and was likely to give you little if any punishment for your sins. Gloria always tried to make sure she was in the line for his confessional booth if she could.
Randall was also known as a bit of a pot fiend. Particularly in his younger years, as anybody who smoked could tell you Randall always had the best shit, and if Randall didn’t have any, you could bet nobody else did either. Even Gloria in her younger years had bought a few grams off Randall.
Randall’s selling days ended however when he was caught with a pound of weed on him by Officer Brown. Fortunately for Randall, Stocksvill was a small, tightly knit community, and Officer Brown was willing to give Randall an ultimatum, instead of a possession with intent to sell charge. Randall could either stop selling weed or go to jail. It didn’t take Randall much time to make a choice.
It was a short time after this incident that Randall joined the church. Why he joined the church, Gloria couldn’t say, but if she had to guess, she would probably say it was for the same reason as her mother, Dawn. To get the most amount of pay for the least amount of work.
Despite this though, Gloria had to acknowledge that Randall was actually extremely smart and had a rapport with the younger members of the church that many of the older clergy could not match. Because of this, he was quite good at the teen help lines the church operated and counseling the younger members of the church if they needed somebody to confide in.
Even though Randall had been forced to clean up his act and stop selling pot, he hadn’t stopped smoking it. Victoria, for her part, seemed to be willing to look the other way, so long as Randall remained out of sight when engaging in such activities and didn’t smoke up before doing more public work for the church, like confessional booths or the help phone lines.
Cleaning and lawn work he could get away with though, which was probably why he was out here. Gloria wasn’t sure exactly why Victoria let it slide, but she supposed that since most of the people who worked in the church had their quirks, Victoria was willing to overlook Randall’s. Hell, if Dawn stayed employed at the church, Randall should have no problems.
“So what are you still doing here?” Randall took a drag from his joint. “Shouldn’t your Ma be driving you back home by now so she can get drunk?” Randall grinned. If Gloria didn’t know how well Randall and Dawn got along together, she might have taken offense to that remark (no matter how true it might be). However, as the two of them were as thick as Christian thieves, she knew to laugh off the comment.
“Yeah, yeah, Pot.” Gloria grinned back, taking the joint out of Randall’s hand and taking a rather unhealthy drag from it herself. The inhale left her coughing for a good thirty seconds afterwards. Christ that was good shit. “I’m still waiting for her to finish up. She’s taking longer than normal.” Gloria managed to get out between coughs.
“Lightweight.” Randall chuckled as he watched Gloria cough. He took his joint back and gave it a good puff. “Maybe Victoria’s chewing her out for something.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me.” Gloria leaned against the shed wall, closing her eyes as the pot kicked in. It had been a while since she had smoked anything, so it was hitting her harder than normal, but still, it was strong weed. She had better not take anymore. “Oh well, she has my number, she’ll call when she’s ready to leave. Mind if I hang for a bit?
“It’s a free country.” Randall shrugged, taking another hit. “So long as you don’t bring the heat down on me.”
“Fair enough.” Gloria looked around the shed. “So, where are the munchies?”
“It’s a tool shed. Where would I hide munchies?” Randall looked at her, spreading his arms.
Gloria looked at Randall for a moment before she pointed. “Are they behind the rakes?”
Randall didn’t respond, just looking at her for several moments. Finally he broke the silence. “Damn, you’re good.” Gloria giggled triumphantly as she wandered over to the rake cabinet, opening it up. After a minute of routing inside, she pulled out a bag f ruffled chips. “How did you know?” Randall gave her a look, one part curious, one part amused.
“Simple. It's late spring. Nobody needs to use the rakes till fall. Perfect hiding place.” Gloria popped a chip into her mouth, a victorious look on her pretty face. Her eyes lit up when she spotted something else in the cabinet. “Oh, Coke!”
“Boobs and brains. Seems like somebody lucked out.” Randall teased as he was handed a can of Coke from Gloria.
“I would have put them behind the hoes, personally.” Gloria looked and spoke to Randall in the mock-tone of a teacher rebuking a student for using five extra steps to solve a math problem they didn’t need to. The hoes almost never got any use at any time.
“I would have, but you and your mom move around too much.” Randall laughed, dodging the bag of chips that were playfully thrown at him.
“Fuck you, ya’ fuckin’ chronic.” Gloria laughed. Gloria had to admit she was a little glad now her mother hadn’t called her yet. She was rather enjoying herself. Plopping down on one of the bags of topsoil (which was surprisingly comfortable), Gloria decided to take another hit off Randall’s joint. Fuck it. Chips, coke, and pot. Was there a better way to kill some time?
10:45 AM
“Jesus fucking Christ! What is that woman doing?” Gloria checked her cell phone again to see what time it was. It had been some time now that she had been waiting. While she was stoned, she had been shooting the shit with Randall, talking about religion and politics, and “If God had tits would they be massive breasts that looked like implants, or would they have a more natural look to them”? Shit like that. The pot was wearing itself off now though, and Gloria found her good, relaxed mood slipping away. Currently, she was irritated.
“Fuck waiting, I’m calling her.” Gloria said aloud, though she was talking more to herself than to Randall at this point. Randall was currently laid back on several bags of top soil, his baseball cap pulled over his eyes.
“Give her hell!” Were Randall’s few words of encouragement, not
bothering to take the cap off his face.
Gloria had every intention of doing that. She punched in the number of her mother’s cell phone and waited. After the sound of her mothers voice instructing her to leave a message, Gloria promptly hung up. “Bitch! Probably has it turned off or something.” Gloria fumed. If her mother had taken off home and forgot her, there would be hell to pay.
“That’s it, I’m going hunting.” Gloria got up and opened the shed door. Her mother had better have a good reason for not contacting her or the fur was going to fly.
“May the force be with you.” Randall gave her a slight wave with his hand. Gloria made sure to close the door behind her. Randall was probably pretty safe in there from Victoria, but it was best not to chance it. Once that was done, she turned around and began heading back towards the church. It was time to find her mother.
11:15 AM
“Where the hell is that bitch?” Gloria stomped her foot in frustration. The first place Gloria had gone to once she left the shed was the parking lot. She had felt a pleasant wave of relief wash over her when she saw her mother’s car still in the parking lot. The relief was quickly replaced with irritation however. She didn’t mind having to wait for her mother, as obviously some unexpected church business must have delayed her, but she did mind being left in the dark about it. Even if Dawn had forgotten her cell phone at home, she could have used the church land line to call her. Unless somebody had a heart attack or something, there was no excuse for this.
Gloria had even spent half an hour looking through the church for her wayward mother. Unfortunately most of the people in the church had left already save for a few members of the clergy, and they didn’t know where Dawn was. Gloria had been very tempted to knock on Victoria’s door to see if her mother was there, but she knew Alicia was still writing her test right now and Gloria didn’t want to interrupt that. Perhaps Victoria had asked Dawn to attend?
That probably wasn’t it. Gloria sighed. She didn’t have a clue where her mother was. But, she did know one thing. She was starting to get hungry again. True, she had enjoyed some chips earlier, but for the most part she had managed to resist her “Munchie” urges. If fear was the mind killer, potato chips were the waistline killer. Gloria tried to stay away from junk food as much as possible and no drug-induced craving would cause her to completely break her eating habits. And so, Gloria’s quest for her mother shifted to a quest for food. Fortunately for Gloria, she at least knew where to find food.
11:20 AM
One of the church's many rooms was a full kitchen. This was for several reasons. The most obvious was that it gave the clergy a place to cook food for what ever meal they happened to be having at the time. Sometimes the clergy worked unpredictable hours and having a kitchen available gave them better tools to adapt. The large mess hall beside the kitchen was also used to host church dinners and pancake breakfasts. Even Dawn was willing to do these, and was known to be a bit of a Nazi in the kitchen. She loved to show off her “flapjacks” when she got the chance.
But as Gloria entered the kitchen she saw that it was not as empty as she had expected. In one corner of the kitchen, brewing some tea and fixing some sandwiches, was a member of the clergy Gloria had missed in her Dawn-scouting expedition.
“Mina!” Gloria grinned. Her voice caused the poor blond-haired girl to jump in surprise. Turning around, the look of surprise turned into a look of relief.
“Hello Gloria.” Mina gave her head a quick bob in greeting. “How are you today?”
Mina was the little sister of Randall, and quite a contrast to her older brother. At the age of twenty-three, Mina was slender girl, short in stature, though generous in bosom. Gloria would have been surprised if she stood more ethan five feet tall and weighed more than a hundred and twenty pounds and she was sure ten of those pounds were in her breasts. She wasn’t as well endowed as Gloria herself, but due to her small stature she looked as busty in comparison. Unlike her brother Randall, who could talk for hours on end and rather loudly, Mina was soft spoken and could go hours without uttering a peep unless somebody said something to her. She was always polite and had a smile for everybody. She was the type of person, as Dawn would say, that wouldn’t say shit if her mouth was full of it.
Gloria would easily put Mina in the top ten most attractive people in Stocksvill list, but her looks were only half her charm. Everything about Mina was cute and sweet. She was polite and shy, and just clumsy enough that it was considered endearing instead of annoying. She even had a trademark whimper she made when she was nervous.
Dawn absolutely loved Mina. The first reason was because it was easy for Dawn to shirk her responsibilities onto Mina. The second reason was that Dawn loved to tease and “play with” the poor girl. Now, it was never anything mean spirited. However Dawn did love to get a reaction out of Mina. For example, one of Dawn’s most common things to do was sneak up behind Mina and cup her breasts while hugging her. Mina would cry out in surprise, her face getting as red as a beet, and then begin to flail her arms about trying to escape, while Dawn would just cling unto her and grope her breasts until finally letting Mina go. Gloria had pointed out the fact that Dawn was sexually assaulting Mina, but Dawn wasn’t one to let the threat of five to ten stop her from having her fun. Mina, for her part, seemed to take it in stride. She got embarrassed, but never angry. Perhaps if she did get angry, Dawn would have let her be. But she didn’t, so Dawn didn’t either.
“I’m pretty good, though a little hungry.” Gloria looked around Mina to see that she was putting two sandwiches together. “Making lunch for somebody?”
“Yes, I’m making some sandwiches for Victoria and Alicia.” Mina smiled. “If you like I could make one for you as well.”
“Thank you Mina that would be great.” It wasn’t too hard to figure out why everybody loved Mina. Gloria paused a moment. “Mina, is my mother with them?”
“Dawn? No, she’s-“ Mina’s mouth clamped shut.
Bingo.
“Mina, if Dawn’s slipped and fallen into a bottle of ceremonial wine or something, it’s OK Just point me in the direction and I’ll go find her.” Gloria was only partially kidding about the ceremonial wine. The church was known to use Sacramental wine on certain occasions, and because of the large number of worshipers the church had a large wine cellar. Gloria wouldn’t put it beyond her mother to slip off and have a few drinks of the wine if she got the chance and was in the mood.
“Oh, no, she wasn’t drunk.” Mina shook her head. “But I probably shouldn’t say where she is…” Mina fidgeted, picking up the circular serving tray in her hands.
“Mina…” Gloria stepped forward, a no-nonsense look on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest. “I want to know where my mother is.”
“Ehhhh…” Mina made one of her trademark whimpers, her voice trembling as it came out of her tiny, full lips. She raised the serving tray up, holding it as though it were a shield. She peered over the edge, her eyes almost spontaneously filling with tears. Gloria had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop her from laughing out loud at how cute Mina looked.
“Mina I won’t tell her you told me where she is OK?” Gloria’s voice was friendly enough, though she kept the stern look on her face.
“But…I can’t…” Mina meekly protested, taking a step back. Mina was obviously more afraid of Dawn than she was of Gloria. Gloria would have to change that.
“Oh, we’ll see about that.” Gloria smiled as she pounced on Mina.
“Ah, no!” Mina cried out, desperately trying to turn around and run away, but Gloria was much to fast for her. The two of them fell to the floor, Gloria on top of Mina. Mina struggled, but while Mina was in decent shape, she wasn’t as athletic or as large as Gloria, and above all, she simply lacked the fighting spirit.
“Quit struggling!” Gloria ordered, and she was somewhat surprised when Mina did. She just looked up at Gloria with tear filled eyes, whimpering. “Aw shit…” Gloria sighed, feeling most of the fight drain from away. People should not be this cute. It was like having a six week old kitten bite your finger. You know you should give it a little swat so it knows that it did a bad, but the thing is so damn cute looking up at you with it’s big eyes that you just can’t.
“I’m not going to hurt you Mina. Just tell me where my mom is OK?” Gloria smiled at Mina, trying to be reasonable. Mina looked like a deer in a pair of headlights. She gave a slight whimper in response, but that was it. Gloria sighed again. Gloria had conducted a lot of tickle interrogations in her time, but this was probably the first time where she knew she wasn’t going to enjoy it.
“Alright, I didn’t want to do this…” Gloria easily moved around on Mina’s prone form, trying her best to ignore her big eyes and whimpers. Gloria carefully straddled Mina’s waist and took a hold of either wrist. Mina gave no resistance as Gloria raised her arms over Mina’s head and pinned them together with one hand to the floor. Slowly, Gloria extended her hand and pressed the fingers into Mina’s left armpit. “Kitchy kitchy koo…” Gloria taunted, smiling slightly as her nails began to brush Mina’s armpit through her habit.
“Ehehhhe oh no please.” Giggles bubbled up from Mina as she began to squirm slightly. The habit was fairly good at protecting a person from tickling, Gloria had learned over the years. Particularly the ones that the nuns wore in the winter, as they seemed to be extra thick. The summer ones, like the one that Mina was wearing, weren’t as thick, but really light tickles tended to prove ineffective. One needed a firmer touch to really produce good laughter. Mina was probably only barely feeling Gloria’s touches through the cloth.
“Come on Mina, tell me what I want to hear.” Gloria increased the pressure of her touch and was rewarded by Mina’s giggles turning into full blown laughter and an increase in struggling. She was still able to hold Mina down easily enough, but holding her down wasn’t her biggest concern. The amount of noise she would make and the possibility of somebody catching them were the worries gnawing at Gloria. You just didn’t do what Gloria was doing. Were it outside of the church and if Mina wasn’t in her habit, or if Gloria were a nun herself, it might have been OK. But as things stood Gloria would find herself in a great deal of trouble if anybody else walked in on her at the moment. She needed to be quick.
“Ehehehehee please, please stop!” Mina protested, laughing and wriggling. Well, at least it was easier for Gloria to subject Mina to this with her smiling now, instead of looking like she was about to be attacked by somebody.
“Not until you talk!” Gloria cupped her hand underneath Mina slightly, allowing her to dig her thumb in and wriggle it into Mina’s armpit for some good, deep tickling.
“Aahahahaha!” Mina responded in kind, arching her back slightly, her laughter becoming more frantic as Gloria’s thumb probed about. She shook her head back in forth in a wordless “no” as she continued to laugh and struggle.
“Come on Mina, just tell me and I’ll stop.” Gloria removed her hand from Mina’s armpit, scratching it down Mina’s ribs as her body shook with laughter, and then began to spider it over Mina’s belly. “Just tell me where Dawn is, and it’ll all be over.” Gloria tried to coax Mina, though it was obvious that her fingers, not her words, were doing the real coaxing.
“Ahahahaahahah!” Mina’s laughter became worse as Gloria stroked her belly. Gloria had to admit, Mina had tighter abs than she would have expected, but hell, that just meant more for her to tickle, and tickle them she did. Gloria could tell from the way Mina’s laughter had increased and the way her stomach muscles tensed under her fingers that this was obviously a good spot to tickle. The damned habit was getting in the way though. If she was touching bare skin, Gloria bet that she could have Mina climbing the wall in hysterics, but the habit wasn’t anywhere near as convenient as a shirt. She couldn’t just lift it up and off the defenseless Mina. Even if she could, Gloria drew the line at stripping the poor girl. She had to admit she was enjoying this a little more than she expected, but there had to be limits.
“OK now Mina…I’m going to give you a few seconds break.” Gloria stopped her tickling for a moment, letting Mina get some air back into her lungs. Gloria had probably only been tickling her for five minutes, but it was obvious Mina was very ticklish, and she wasn’t exactly a willing participant in this. This wasn’t like Alicia who enjoyed tickle fights, or Rod, who on some level seemed to enjoy being tickled. This was tickling somebody against their will.
“Ehhhh….” Mina whimpered, tears of laughter streaked down her lovely face. Or at least Gloria told herself they were tears of laughter. She hated to think they were tears of anything else. Sighing, she brushed them off Mina’s cheeks, trying to ignore the way the girl flinched slightly at her touch. This was not working out like she had expected. If she didn’t get Mina to talk in the next couple of minutes, she’d say to hell with it and let her go. She couldn’t understand though why Mina was so reluctant to tell her. That was the only piece of the puzzle Gloria couldn’t figure out.
Dawn! That was it! Dawn had tormented Mina for years. She must know of a few chinks in Mina’s devilishly cute armor that Gloria could exploit. As her mind raced over the bits and pieces of information Dawn had told her about Mina, a small smile found it’s way to Gloria’s lips.
“OK, Mina, you’ve left me no choice.” Reaching down with her free hand, Gloria took a good hold of Mina’s head and turned it sideways. Mina’s didn’t resist, as Gloria had expected, and as carefully as possible, she made sure that Mina’s head was trapped. Then she leaned over, pressing her body to Mina’s feeling her breasts press against Mina’s own impressive pair. She lowered her lips to Mina’s ear. “Now, Mina, your going to talk or you get…the tongue!”
Having given her final warning, Gloria began nibbling Mina’s earlobe. “AAAAAHAHAHAHA!” Mina practically screamed, and Gloria almost pulled away from the sheer volume out of instinct alone. Gloria had been prepared for Mina’s reaction. Her mother had described, in detail, Mina’s reaction to this particular torment. How or why her mother had began playing with Mina’s ear with her mouth and tongue, Gloria didn’t want to know. All she knew was that it had apparently made Mina jump a mile. And it seemed this time was no exception.
Despite the loud response from Mina, Gloria kept at it. She nibbled the earlobe for a few more minute, before she began suckling on it. Gloria had done this to several boyfriends in the past, and as none of them were anywhere near as sensitive as Mina, it had given her plenty of time to practice her ear-to-tongue techniques. She wasn’t a master perhaps, but she knew she could turn a man into a raging hard-on with her skill. And now she was using that same skill to turn Mina into a puddle.
“NO NO NO NO AAAAAHAAHAHAH!” Mina was really howling and struggling now, and Gloria had to admit she was surprised by how desperately Mina was trying to get away. Gloria didn’t let up though. This was an all or nothing effort: if Mina didn’t talk after this, she was going to let her go, so that meant no holding back. Sliding her long tongue between her full, red lips, Gloria licked the back of Mina’s ear before she slid it inside, letting the wet appendage roll and flick around in the same ways she had done to so many boys before.
“AHAHAHAHAHA I”LL TALK AHAHAHAHA NO AHAHHA MORE!” Mina screamed after only ten seconds of the tongue invading her ear.
Gloria stopped instantly. She had no desire to torture Mina anymore than she already had, and truth be told, she was a little disgusted by her own actions to Mina. Mina was the nicest girl ever. Why couldn’t it have been somebody she would have felt less guilt about tickling?
Gloria cradled Mina’s exhausted form, stroking her face in a soothing manner as Mina laughed and giggled, slowly regaining control of her breathing. Gloria didn’t want Mina to regain too much composure though, or she might hit Gloria with the tearful puppy eyes again and hold back. “Mina…where’s my mother?”
“She…” Mina sniffled, wiped her face, but not struggling to get away from Gloria. “She took Rod to the basement.”
“She what!?” Gloria cried out, her eyes widening and her voice rising in shock. Mina for her part recoiled slightly from either the look on Gloria’s face or the volume of her voice, or possibly both. Frankly at this point, Gloria didn’t care. She grabbed Mina by the shoulders. “Why did she take him to the basement?”
“I don’t know!” Mina cried out, wincing from the force in which Gloria clung to her. “You’re hurting me!”
Gloria stopped instantly, releasing Mina as though she had been slapped in the face. Somewhere this had gone from something that had been intended as being playful fun to something much more serious. Yes, she had wanted to find her mother, but she had gone too far. Poor Mina was practically trembling under her. Gloria slowly got to her feet.
“I am so sorry Mina.” Gloria extended a hand, which after a moments hesitation, Mina cautiously accepted. Gloria pulled Mina to her feet, surprised by how light she was. Once Mina was on her feet, Gloria had a hard time looking her in the eye. “Mina…I don’t know how to begin to apologize…”
“It’s OK” Mina’s words were gentle and tender. “You didn’t mean to harm me, so it’s OK” Mina wiped her face sniffling a little. She smiled softly at Gloria. “Besides, I’m used to Dawn’s antics, so this isn’t so bad.”
“I promise I’ll make it up to you Mina.” Gloria wasn’t really sure how. She’d have offered Mina revenge if she thought that Mina would have actually taken it, but this was Mina. The girl didn’t even kill mosquitoes that landed on her.
“It’s OK, really.” Mina smiled. Her face then took on a look of concern. “Um, you’re not going to tell Dawn I told you, are you?”
“No, no, of course not. Pinky swear.” Gloria held up her hand and extended her pinky. Mina hesitated, then reached her own hand up and locked pinky fingers with Gloria, giving it a little shake.
“Now, I really must get these sandwiches done. I can still make you one if you like.” Mina offered.
“You’re much too generous Mina.” Gloria shook her head. “Thank you, but I have bigger fish to fry.” Gloria thanked Mina one more time, and then quickly hurried towards the basement.
11:25 AM
“I’m going to kill her. I’m going to fucking kill her.” Gloria was fuming as she headed into the church basement. Admittedly, Gloria wasn’t 100% sure of what was going on, but there were few reasons for Dawn to take Rod somewhere secluded. The main reason burning in Gloria’s mind had better not have been the real reason, or Gloria…well, Gloria wasn’t exactly sure what she would do, but it would be bad.
There were two basements in the church. One was the newer basement, which had the wine cellar and was mainly used as a storeroom for tables and chairs for bingo, and many other church related events. The other basement was the original basement of the church. Dawn had showed it to Gloria once and had reminisced about the fact that it barely ever got used these days and how she wondered what it had been like when the basement was in full use. Gloria was willing to bet that the older basement was the one Dawn had gone to. After all, what better a place to go to and not be disturbed than a place filled with private rooms that were hardly ever used. Hell, it was even pretty well sound-proofed. It wouldn’t hide all of the noise a person made, but unless you were pretty loud, nobody was going to hear you, and they definitely wouldn’t hear you upstairs even if you were loud.
As she moved down the stairs in quick, though careful steps, Gloria’s thoughts of anger were interrupted by the sounds of laughter. They were muffled, and as Gloria stepped into the main basement room, she could tell which of the small rooms it was coming from. She knew that laughter very well. It belonged to Rod, and from the sounds of things, he had probably been tickled for some time now. Gloria had heard enough of Rod’s laughter to know when it was fresh or not.
As Gloria approached the door, she stopped. The laughter had stopped, and she could hear the sound of muffled voices. Just barely, but she could hear them. She couldn’t make out what was being said however. The fact that the tickling had stopped though worried Gloria a little. Either Dawn was giving Rod a few minute breather, or she had finished tickling him. Gloria decided to play it safe and quickly bolted around the corner, peeking around it to see if Dawn and Rod exited the room. Only a minute later the door opened and Dawn stepped out but there was no Rod with her. Dawn didn’t see Gloria, her mind on other things more than likely, and considering the large grin on her face, Gloria had to wonder what those other things were.
Dawn then turned and walked out of the basement, leaving Gloria to puzzle as to what was going on. Why would Dawn leave Rod? Perhaps Rod was waiting a few minutes to follow her? Possible, but Gloria didn’t think that was it. Well, she supposed there was only one way to find out. Gloria began to walk towards the door, then stopped in mid step.
What if she opened that door and found Rod naked? What if Dawn and Rod really did have sex? Gloria had been so focused on how angry she would be that she hadn’t really thought of the ramifications of such an event. Yes, she would be angry, but that was only one facet of it. She’d also be extremely hurt. If Dawn and Rod did have sex, the ramifications to her life would be huge. Gloria doubted she’d ever be able to forgive Rod and Dawn for that. Not to mention that the friendship between herself, Mandy, Alicia and Rod would be strained, if not destroyed, and that friendship was sacred to Gloria.
Perhaps it was best to just walk away and leave Dawn and Rod to whatever they were doing. After all, if Gloria couldn’t confirm that they had sex, then there could be any number of reasons that this situation could have unfolded. Gloria certainly didn’t know everything. There were probably parts of the puzzle she was missing. Yes, that was assuredly it. Dawn and Rod weren’t having sex. They were doing something else. This basement was used for Penance after all, and even though it rarely got used, certainly Rod could be being punished for something, right? And Dawn was an expert when it came to tickling Rod, so it only made sense for her to be his cleanser. Sure, that made sense…
Gloria sighed, shaking her head. Even though it was a possibility, Gloria doubted Rod would have kept to himself something big enough to get him locked up in here. At least the part with her mother made sense, but for Rod, the piece just didn’t fit. She could still leave though. Let sleeping dogs lie...
Gloria looked towards the staircase, then at the door to Rod’s room, then back at the staircase again. She couldn’t just leave. Not like this. Confronting Rod had it’s risks, but not confronting him would only lead to paranoia and eventually anger, and by the time she confronted him about what happened, when the anger and paranoia became to much for her to bear, would she be able to trust his words? Gloria would have liked to think so, but she knew better. Taking a deep breath and steadying herself, Gloria placed her hand on the door knob and opened the door.
11:45 AM
“Gloria?!”
“Rod? Oh my god!” Gloria hadn’t been sure what to expect when she opened the door. Seeing Rod almost naked, wearing a loin cloth and being strapped down on one of the racks was not one of the possibilities that entered her mind, and despite her apprehension before opening the door, she found it quickly evaporating as she struggled not to laugh out loud at the scene. “What the hell did my mother do to you?”
“She made me wear this and tickled the hell out of me.” Rod grumbled, obviously not seeing the humor in the situation that Gloria saw. Understandable, of course. Gloria imagined she wouldn’t be too happy if Rod walked in on her like this and she was dressed like Princess Leia or something.
“That’s not the only thing she’s done. Boing!” Gloria burst out laughing. Despite his complaints though, Gloria couldn’t help but notice the rather large bulge in between his legs. Gloria had to give her mother credit. She knew how to dress a man to make him revealing but not totally revealed. Truth be told, this was the closest to naked she had ever seen Rod, and it was a little arousing seeing him like this. And check out the size of that bush whacker! Gloria had always known Rod was well equipped, but damn! “Jesus Rod, I knew you were big, but God really broke the mold when he made you, didn’t he?”
“Just untie me before she gets back, OK?” Rod shifted about on the rack, not looking too pleased.
“Alright, alright.” Gloria smiled at him. Rod wasn’t going to live this one down for a while, and had she more time, Gloria probably would have tormented him a little more. Perhaps even tickled him a bit herself. But now wasn’t the time for that. Gloria walked behind the rack and looked at the various cranks and pulleys. Hmmm… “For a primitive device it looks a little more complicated than I thought.” Gloria took a hold of one of the cranks and gave it a slight pull. “How’s this?”
“Ouch ouch ouch!” Rod cried out. “Watch it!”
“Sorry sorry sorry!” Gloria quickly turned the wheel in the opposite direction. Shit, that was not part of the plan. Even though this device was just meant to hold a person, it was still capable of tearing out a person's shoulder sockets. She’d have to be very careful here.
“Better.” Rod sighed with relief. Rod looked upwards towards Gloria as she looked over the device. “What are you doing here by the way?”
“Well, Dawn didn’t come out of the church so I was pretty much stranded here. I kicked around for a while, but when she didn’t answer her phone, I went looking for her. Eventually found you here.” Gloria gave the rack a little kick in frustration. “I wish Mandy was here. She’s a lot better at this technical stuff.” Mandy would have been able to figure this out.
“It should be fairly simple. Turn the wheel one way to tighten, and turn it the other way to loosen.” Rod commented.
“If it was that easy, I would have un-cranked you or whatever by now.” Gloria pointed out. Who would have thought a rack would be so complicated? Gloria tried turning another wheel, but nothing happened.
“OK, how about you open the stocks part for the moment then?” Rod suggested.
“OK, I’ll try but I think it had a lock on it.” Gloria answered, circling around to the bottom of the rack to inspect the stocks. Yup, there was a lock alright, and sadly not the type involving a sliding bar. “Shit, there is.” Gloria then looked up and giggled. “I see Paris, I see France, I see what should be being covered by Rod’s underpants.” Of course, she couldn’t see anything. Unfortunately the loin cloth was effective enough to cover him up, but it did leave VERY little to the imagination. However, the fact that she couldn’t see anything didn’t mean she couldn’t mess with Rod a little. Her petty revenge for making her worry.
“Hey, come on, stop it!” Rod shifted around on the rack, his cheeks burning. Gloria had to admit, much like her mother, she got a sadistic pleasure out of making Rod squirm from time to time. “Look for a key or something and get me out of this.”
“Just kidding, Rod.” Gloria smiled and turned around to look in the closet for a key. What was he shy about? The boy had a pole in his pants that would give most porn stars a run for their money. Gloria wondered if that was what her mother liked about Rod. The fact that he had a huge cock. Well, it had certainly been pointing north of the border when Gloria had walked in. “She really knows how to get your engine going, doesn’t she?”
“She just knows how to press my buttons, I guess,” was the response Gloria heard.
“Yeah, your buttons and every other man's buttons.” Gloria stood up. She was starting to get angry. It was true though. How many other men had Dawn flirted with over the years? How many times had Gloria brought boyfriends to the house, only to see their eyes dart past her to Dawn? Yes, Dawn had bigger tits. Yes, she was prettier and sexier and she understood that guys liked that, but did they have any idea of how much it hurt her? How their wandering eyes always ended up on Dawn instead of her? She was the one they were fucking. She was the one sucking their dicks, and letting them mount her in the backs of their cars. Her, not her mother! But they always looked at Dawn. Always Dawn! “Do you have any idea what it’s like to have a friend who wants to fuck your mother?”
“Whoa, whoa, who said I wanted to fuck your mother?” Rod was quickly taking a defensive position, obviously more than a little shocked by her reaction.
“Aside from the throbbing erection? You love it when she flirts with you. You loved it when you were younger and you still love it. Don’t try and tell me you don’t have a crush on her, I know you do!” Gloria advanced on Rod. Her voice was rising. She was just so angry. But she was also sad, because she knew the answer. She might as well not have asked the question, but she did anyway. Because she wanted another answer. She wanted him to deny it. Tell her it wasn’t true. Just lie to me. Even if it’s a lie I’ll believe it. Just don’t tell me it’s true. Please God, just tell me it’s not true…and I’ll believe you.
The silence seemed to make time stretch. Rod was looking at her, eyes wide. He had never seen her like this. This angry towards him. He seemed to be searching for the words. Every second was unbearable, but Gloria had to bare it. She had no choice. Just lie to me Rod…please…just lie…
“Look I…I do have a crush on your mom.” The answer was like a dagger in Gloria’s heart. Yes, she had known it, but as long as it never became spoken, so long as the truth was allowed to be buried, she could pretend ignorance.
“See.” Gloria looked at Rod with disgust, and went back to rooting around in the closet. She felt like curling up into a ball and just crying. She should have known. In the end she just couldn’t compete with Dawn. As usual, she was just second best.
“But I would never have sex with her. I’d never risk our friendship
like that.” Rod continued from the rack after a moment.
“Well, that just makes it all better doesn’t it?” Gloria scoffed over her shoulder. Friendship…somehow the word seemed so hollow at the moment. Is that all I’ve ever been to you Rod? A friend? Yeah, I guess so. “If you don’t want to have sex with her, why don’t you tell her to stop? Tell her you’re not interested. But you never did that, did you? Yeah, you don’t want to have sex with her alright.”
“I don’t.” Rod’s tone of voice was changing. He was beginning to get angry. Why bother denying it? Gloria was used to men wanting to fuck her mother. Rod was just another to add to the list.
“Yeah? Then why haven’t you told her to stop if you’re not interested?” Gloria continued to route around in the closet. Part of her didn’t even want to look at Rod at the moment. Yet, she was still looking in the closet for the keys, because even though he might not feel for her the way he did about him, she still loved him, and he was one of her best friends.
“Because…”
“Because why?” Gloria turned around when Rod didn’t finish his sentence. What, did he think she couldn’t take it?
“Never mind...” Rod turned away. Gloria’s anger flared.
“No! Not never mind!” Gloria yelled. She slammed her hands down on the bottom of the rack so hard they throbbed, but she didn’t care. “I wanna know! That’s it, tell me how she’s prettier than me! How she has bigger boobs than me! Tell me how she can do everything I can do better than me!”
“FINE!” Rod yelled at her. Rod had never yelled at any of them before, and Gloria’s anger was momentarily forgotten in shock from his outburst. “You wanna know why I like it when your mother flirts me? I’ll tell you why! Because when your mother flirts with me, it feels good. Yes, it does arouse me. But its much more than that. You don’t know what its like to be a nothing. Look at you! You’re gorgeous. You have a line up a mile wide of guys willing to take you out. Know how many girls I have? None! But your mother, when she flirts with me, I feel handsome! I feel smart! I feel like somebody beautiful could actually like me! Somebody like-“ Rod’s mouth snapped shut and he turned away, breathing hard.
Gloria couldn’t speak. She couldn’t breathe. All she could do was look at Rod. Somebody like…who? Who was it that Rod wanted to like him? Was it her? Was she the women that Rod cared for, and not her mother? Gloria had fantasized about it for so long, but it had been nothing more than that. A deep longing she had never dared dream of being returned. The possibility of that fantasy being a reality both excited her and terrified her. She had to know though. At this point, she had gone too far, and now she had to know.
Gloria walked around the rack slowly and gently reached out; taking Rods face in her gentle hands, moving him so he was looking at her. “Somebody like who, Rod?” Rod tried to pull away, but Gloria held his head firmly. “Somebody like who?”
“Somebody like you Gloria.” Rod finally answered his voice soft as he spoke. He pulled his head away again, and this time Gloria didn’t stop him. “I…like you Gloria. I have for a long time now.”
Me! It’s me! He likes me, not her! Gloria felt like she couldn’t breathe again. She wanted to cry with joy. He chose me! “Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Her voice was soft, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it would break through her chest.
“Because…” Rod slowly turned to look at her. “Because I’m me, and you're you.” Rod looked at her, his eyes finding hers. . “You’re always talking about getting out of here. Becoming a star or something, and you can do it. You're pretty enough and talented enough and smart enough that you could pull it off. You should be with somebody who can give you everything you want. I’m, at best, middle class. I’m not strong, or smart, or good looking. The best I could offer you is a medium size house with a twenty-five year mortgage and if we’re lucky, two cars in the driveway. I…I don’t have anything to offer you.”
Gloria was surprised to see a tear run down Rods cheek. She understood it though. The belief, that no matter how much you loved a person, you weren’t good enough. That you could never be better than the competition. Yes, Gloria knew that Hell well. How ironic that they had been sharing the same cell in Hell, and neither of them even knew it.
“You could have offered me yourself.” Gloria smiled sadly. How many years had the two of them suffered for nothing? Gloria ran her hand along Rod’s arm, reaching up and entwining her fingers with his, squeezing tightly. “That’s enough for me to stay.” Gloria closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to his. She felt like she was in some magnificent dream she never wanted to wake from. She caressed Rod’s face with her other hand.
“But…Gloria…I…” Rod’s voice was confused, surprised. Gloria couldn’t blame him for that.
“Shhh…” Gloria whispered softly, her eyes slowly opening. She wanted him. She needed him. Right then, right there, she needed to feel Rod inside her, to make it real. To turn the dream into flesh and bone. “Don’t say anything.” Gloria leaned down, her breathing heavy, her heart pounding, and she pressed her lips to Rod’s, kissing him more passionately than she had ever kissed any man.
Gloria hummed a tune to herself as she walked around outside. Most of the people had filed out of the church, with only a few stragglers left. Mandy had gone home already, no doubt to recover from her tickling, and Alicia had gone to take her test, leaving only Rod unaccounted for. He was probably still in the confessional booth with Dawn. It had been some time since the two had been paired up, and Gloria imagined Dawn was taking her time with Rod.
Gloria felt her jealousy start to flare up and firmly steered her thoughts away from Rod and Dawn. The day was simply too nice to waste with negative thoughts. Gloria hummed a little louder, trying to drown out the voice of agitation in her mind, and decided to go for a walk on the church grounds. Gloria was sure her mother would call her cell if she finished up before Gloria got back.
Gloria slowly walked around to the back of the church. The church, much like everything else in Stocksvill, was surrounded by dense forest, but it also had a rather large and impressive flower garden. It wasn’t only a flower garden though.
Every year since the end of World War II (where Stocksvill had done its part by supplying lumber, not to mention more than a few good and willing men) they had an annual festival. It was done to celebrate the birth of Stocksvill, and as one would expect, the church was heavily involved in the festivals.
Aside from what the standard festival games, there were several contests that specifically focused on Stocksvill's lumberjacking history. There was the axe throwing contest, tree climbing, log sawing, and tree cutting. Gloria’s father had been excellent at that particular competition, winning and holding the title until his untimely death. Tad's father, not surprisingly, had been the closest person to beat him. Tad was expected to compete this year, and was a heavy favorite to win in his age category.
Last but not least came the wood carving competition. While the other competitions were certainly respected, the winner of the wood carving competition was given a particular honor: the winning carving would be placed behind the church in the flower garden. A special podium would be set up to hold the carving, with the name of the carving, the person who made it, and the year it won the competition inscribed on a brass plaque.
Gloria walked amongst the flowers and carvings, taking a moment to breathe in the sweet scent. All around her were different carvings. Most of them were religious. Mother Mary was a favorite, along with Jesus. There were a few non-religious ones too, like a nice carving of a lion, and another of a Canadian goose. She was tempted to reach out and touch one of them, to feel the smoothness of their finish under her fingers. Gloria didn’t though. The carvings were not to be touched by anybody, save members of the church while they were either cleaning them or moving them inside to protect them from the elements. They were also given a healthy coating of lacquer to make them even more resistant to weather and age.
Looking at the carvings, Gloria’s eyes caught sight of a carving of a grizzly bear and she was reminded of a gift she had been given by Rod when she had been ten. It was one of her most cherished possession and sat on her dresser in her room.
Gloria, when she was younger, had a stuffed bear. Yes, it was much more common for girls to have dolls, and she had certainly had those, but she also had a stuffed teddy bear. It had been a gift from her father when she was just little and she cherished it. When she was ten years old, of course, she didn’t play with teddy bears anymore, but it was still precious to her, and she kept it in her room.
One day, however, Gloria’s teddy bear somehow ended up in one of the boxes of items and clothing Dawn delivered to Goodwill. Just how this happened was still a highly contested subject between mother and daughter.
Gloria didn't notice the absence of her beloved bear until a few days later. She tore her room apart and then approached her mother, who helped her give the house an extremely thorough search. Finally the two of them decided to see if the unthinkable had happened, and drove down to the Goodwill.
Upon arriving at the Goodwill and talking to a few of the associates, Gloria and Dawn learned, much to their horror, that there had indeed been a stuffed bear in one of the boxes Dawn had delivered, but the bear was already gone.
Gloria was devastated. She cried all the way home. Nothing Dawn could say was able to console her daughter. Part of this was because Gloria blamed her mother for the loss of the bear. To Dawn's credit, she accepted the blame at the time, feeling her daughter needed somebody to blame at the moment more than somebody to turn the accusing finger back on her.
Gloria went right to her room when she got home and spent the rest of the night crying into her pillow, despite her mother’s best efforts to cheer her up. Gloria’s mood didn’t improve much over the next week. She told her friends what happened, and they were certainly sympathetic. They knew how much that bear had meant to Gloria. However, they had as little luck at brightening her mood as her mother had.
Then one day, about three weeks after the loss of her teddy bear, Rod knocked on her door. Somewhat sheepishly, Rod proceeded to give her a six inch wooden carving of the bear she had lost. For a ten year old, the carving quality was exceptional. Rod had even taken a tiny chunk of the left ear off to match a piece missing from the left ear of her bear. It had been sanded smooth, and painted a light brown to match the color of her bear. There was even two tiny buttons for the eyes.
Gloria fell in love with it as soon as she saw it. She had thrown her arms around Rod, squeezing the life out of him and probably kissed him on the face half a dozen times. Of course, back then the kisses hadn’t been romantic. They had just been her way of expressing her thanks.
Sadly, Rod didn’t carve anymore. Well, he did whittle things now and then, and they were decent enough, but they simply lacked real effort. But then, that was Rod. Enough to get by, but never really pushing himself. He had been like that since…
Gloria stopped in mid-thought, sniffing the air. A familiar smell was wafting up from one of the tool sheds close to the flower garden. Gloria tiptoed towards the tool shed and peered inside. “Ha! Gotcha!” Gloria grinned at the lone occupant of the tool shed.
“So, wha’dya want, a medal?” Came the playful response of the young man sitting in the shed, wearing his frock, and smoking a joint. A baseball cap sat on his head.
Randall Quid was one of the youngest members of the church at the age of twenty seven. His little sister, Mina, was the youngest member of the church clergy at twenty three. Randall was considered one of the “Cooler” members of the clergy in Stocksvill. He still hung out with a younger crowd and was likely to give you little if any punishment for your sins. Gloria always tried to make sure she was in the line for his confessional booth if she could.
Randall was also known as a bit of a pot fiend. Particularly in his younger years, as anybody who smoked could tell you Randall always had the best shit, and if Randall didn’t have any, you could bet nobody else did either. Even Gloria in her younger years had bought a few grams off Randall.
Randall’s selling days ended however when he was caught with a pound of weed on him by Officer Brown. Fortunately for Randall, Stocksvill was a small, tightly knit community, and Officer Brown was willing to give Randall an ultimatum, instead of a possession with intent to sell charge. Randall could either stop selling weed or go to jail. It didn’t take Randall much time to make a choice.
It was a short time after this incident that Randall joined the church. Why he joined the church, Gloria couldn’t say, but if she had to guess, she would probably say it was for the same reason as her mother, Dawn. To get the most amount of pay for the least amount of work.
Despite this though, Gloria had to acknowledge that Randall was actually extremely smart and had a rapport with the younger members of the church that many of the older clergy could not match. Because of this, he was quite good at the teen help lines the church operated and counseling the younger members of the church if they needed somebody to confide in.
Even though Randall had been forced to clean up his act and stop selling pot, he hadn’t stopped smoking it. Victoria, for her part, seemed to be willing to look the other way, so long as Randall remained out of sight when engaging in such activities and didn’t smoke up before doing more public work for the church, like confessional booths or the help phone lines.
Cleaning and lawn work he could get away with though, which was probably why he was out here. Gloria wasn’t sure exactly why Victoria let it slide, but she supposed that since most of the people who worked in the church had their quirks, Victoria was willing to overlook Randall’s. Hell, if Dawn stayed employed at the church, Randall should have no problems.
“So what are you still doing here?” Randall took a drag from his joint. “Shouldn’t your Ma be driving you back home by now so she can get drunk?” Randall grinned. If Gloria didn’t know how well Randall and Dawn got along together, she might have taken offense to that remark (no matter how true it might be). However, as the two of them were as thick as Christian thieves, she knew to laugh off the comment.
“Yeah, yeah, Pot.” Gloria grinned back, taking the joint out of Randall’s hand and taking a rather unhealthy drag from it herself. The inhale left her coughing for a good thirty seconds afterwards. Christ that was good shit. “I’m still waiting for her to finish up. She’s taking longer than normal.” Gloria managed to get out between coughs.
“Lightweight.” Randall chuckled as he watched Gloria cough. He took his joint back and gave it a good puff. “Maybe Victoria’s chewing her out for something.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me.” Gloria leaned against the shed wall, closing her eyes as the pot kicked in. It had been a while since she had smoked anything, so it was hitting her harder than normal, but still, it was strong weed. She had better not take anymore. “Oh well, she has my number, she’ll call when she’s ready to leave. Mind if I hang for a bit?
“It’s a free country.” Randall shrugged, taking another hit. “So long as you don’t bring the heat down on me.”
“Fair enough.” Gloria looked around the shed. “So, where are the munchies?”
“It’s a tool shed. Where would I hide munchies?” Randall looked at her, spreading his arms.
Gloria looked at Randall for a moment before she pointed. “Are they behind the rakes?”
Randall didn’t respond, just looking at her for several moments. Finally he broke the silence. “Damn, you’re good.” Gloria giggled triumphantly as she wandered over to the rake cabinet, opening it up. After a minute of routing inside, she pulled out a bag f ruffled chips. “How did you know?” Randall gave her a look, one part curious, one part amused.
“Simple. It's late spring. Nobody needs to use the rakes till fall. Perfect hiding place.” Gloria popped a chip into her mouth, a victorious look on her pretty face. Her eyes lit up when she spotted something else in the cabinet. “Oh, Coke!”
“Boobs and brains. Seems like somebody lucked out.” Randall teased as he was handed a can of Coke from Gloria.
“I would have put them behind the hoes, personally.” Gloria looked and spoke to Randall in the mock-tone of a teacher rebuking a student for using five extra steps to solve a math problem they didn’t need to. The hoes almost never got any use at any time.
“I would have, but you and your mom move around too much.” Randall laughed, dodging the bag of chips that were playfully thrown at him.
“Fuck you, ya’ fuckin’ chronic.” Gloria laughed. Gloria had to admit she was a little glad now her mother hadn’t called her yet. She was rather enjoying herself. Plopping down on one of the bags of topsoil (which was surprisingly comfortable), Gloria decided to take another hit off Randall’s joint. Fuck it. Chips, coke, and pot. Was there a better way to kill some time?
10:45 AM
“Jesus fucking Christ! What is that woman doing?” Gloria checked her cell phone again to see what time it was. It had been some time now that she had been waiting. While she was stoned, she had been shooting the shit with Randall, talking about religion and politics, and “If God had tits would they be massive breasts that looked like implants, or would they have a more natural look to them”? Shit like that. The pot was wearing itself off now though, and Gloria found her good, relaxed mood slipping away. Currently, she was irritated.
“Fuck waiting, I’m calling her.” Gloria said aloud, though she was talking more to herself than to Randall at this point. Randall was currently laid back on several bags of top soil, his baseball cap pulled over his eyes.
“Give her hell!” Were Randall’s few words of encouragement, not
bothering to take the cap off his face.
Gloria had every intention of doing that. She punched in the number of her mother’s cell phone and waited. After the sound of her mothers voice instructing her to leave a message, Gloria promptly hung up. “Bitch! Probably has it turned off or something.” Gloria fumed. If her mother had taken off home and forgot her, there would be hell to pay.
“That’s it, I’m going hunting.” Gloria got up and opened the shed door. Her mother had better have a good reason for not contacting her or the fur was going to fly.
“May the force be with you.” Randall gave her a slight wave with his hand. Gloria made sure to close the door behind her. Randall was probably pretty safe in there from Victoria, but it was best not to chance it. Once that was done, she turned around and began heading back towards the church. It was time to find her mother.
11:15 AM
“Where the hell is that bitch?” Gloria stomped her foot in frustration. The first place Gloria had gone to once she left the shed was the parking lot. She had felt a pleasant wave of relief wash over her when she saw her mother’s car still in the parking lot. The relief was quickly replaced with irritation however. She didn’t mind having to wait for her mother, as obviously some unexpected church business must have delayed her, but she did mind being left in the dark about it. Even if Dawn had forgotten her cell phone at home, she could have used the church land line to call her. Unless somebody had a heart attack or something, there was no excuse for this.
Gloria had even spent half an hour looking through the church for her wayward mother. Unfortunately most of the people in the church had left already save for a few members of the clergy, and they didn’t know where Dawn was. Gloria had been very tempted to knock on Victoria’s door to see if her mother was there, but she knew Alicia was still writing her test right now and Gloria didn’t want to interrupt that. Perhaps Victoria had asked Dawn to attend?
That probably wasn’t it. Gloria sighed. She didn’t have a clue where her mother was. But, she did know one thing. She was starting to get hungry again. True, she had enjoyed some chips earlier, but for the most part she had managed to resist her “Munchie” urges. If fear was the mind killer, potato chips were the waistline killer. Gloria tried to stay away from junk food as much as possible and no drug-induced craving would cause her to completely break her eating habits. And so, Gloria’s quest for her mother shifted to a quest for food. Fortunately for Gloria, she at least knew where to find food.
11:20 AM
One of the church's many rooms was a full kitchen. This was for several reasons. The most obvious was that it gave the clergy a place to cook food for what ever meal they happened to be having at the time. Sometimes the clergy worked unpredictable hours and having a kitchen available gave them better tools to adapt. The large mess hall beside the kitchen was also used to host church dinners and pancake breakfasts. Even Dawn was willing to do these, and was known to be a bit of a Nazi in the kitchen. She loved to show off her “flapjacks” when she got the chance.
But as Gloria entered the kitchen she saw that it was not as empty as she had expected. In one corner of the kitchen, brewing some tea and fixing some sandwiches, was a member of the clergy Gloria had missed in her Dawn-scouting expedition.
“Mina!” Gloria grinned. Her voice caused the poor blond-haired girl to jump in surprise. Turning around, the look of surprise turned into a look of relief.
“Hello Gloria.” Mina gave her head a quick bob in greeting. “How are you today?”
Mina was the little sister of Randall, and quite a contrast to her older brother. At the age of twenty-three, Mina was slender girl, short in stature, though generous in bosom. Gloria would have been surprised if she stood more ethan five feet tall and weighed more than a hundred and twenty pounds and she was sure ten of those pounds were in her breasts. She wasn’t as well endowed as Gloria herself, but due to her small stature she looked as busty in comparison. Unlike her brother Randall, who could talk for hours on end and rather loudly, Mina was soft spoken and could go hours without uttering a peep unless somebody said something to her. She was always polite and had a smile for everybody. She was the type of person, as Dawn would say, that wouldn’t say shit if her mouth was full of it.
Gloria would easily put Mina in the top ten most attractive people in Stocksvill list, but her looks were only half her charm. Everything about Mina was cute and sweet. She was polite and shy, and just clumsy enough that it was considered endearing instead of annoying. She even had a trademark whimper she made when she was nervous.
Dawn absolutely loved Mina. The first reason was because it was easy for Dawn to shirk her responsibilities onto Mina. The second reason was that Dawn loved to tease and “play with” the poor girl. Now, it was never anything mean spirited. However Dawn did love to get a reaction out of Mina. For example, one of Dawn’s most common things to do was sneak up behind Mina and cup her breasts while hugging her. Mina would cry out in surprise, her face getting as red as a beet, and then begin to flail her arms about trying to escape, while Dawn would just cling unto her and grope her breasts until finally letting Mina go. Gloria had pointed out the fact that Dawn was sexually assaulting Mina, but Dawn wasn’t one to let the threat of five to ten stop her from having her fun. Mina, for her part, seemed to take it in stride. She got embarrassed, but never angry. Perhaps if she did get angry, Dawn would have let her be. But she didn’t, so Dawn didn’t either.
“I’m pretty good, though a little hungry.” Gloria looked around Mina to see that she was putting two sandwiches together. “Making lunch for somebody?”
“Yes, I’m making some sandwiches for Victoria and Alicia.” Mina smiled. “If you like I could make one for you as well.”
“Thank you Mina that would be great.” It wasn’t too hard to figure out why everybody loved Mina. Gloria paused a moment. “Mina, is my mother with them?”
“Dawn? No, she’s-“ Mina’s mouth clamped shut.
Bingo.
“Mina, if Dawn’s slipped and fallen into a bottle of ceremonial wine or something, it’s OK Just point me in the direction and I’ll go find her.” Gloria was only partially kidding about the ceremonial wine. The church was known to use Sacramental wine on certain occasions, and because of the large number of worshipers the church had a large wine cellar. Gloria wouldn’t put it beyond her mother to slip off and have a few drinks of the wine if she got the chance and was in the mood.
“Oh, no, she wasn’t drunk.” Mina shook her head. “But I probably shouldn’t say where she is…” Mina fidgeted, picking up the circular serving tray in her hands.
“Mina…” Gloria stepped forward, a no-nonsense look on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest. “I want to know where my mother is.”
“Ehhhh…” Mina made one of her trademark whimpers, her voice trembling as it came out of her tiny, full lips. She raised the serving tray up, holding it as though it were a shield. She peered over the edge, her eyes almost spontaneously filling with tears. Gloria had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop her from laughing out loud at how cute Mina looked.
“Mina I won’t tell her you told me where she is OK?” Gloria’s voice was friendly enough, though she kept the stern look on her face.
“But…I can’t…” Mina meekly protested, taking a step back. Mina was obviously more afraid of Dawn than she was of Gloria. Gloria would have to change that.
“Oh, we’ll see about that.” Gloria smiled as she pounced on Mina.
“Ah, no!” Mina cried out, desperately trying to turn around and run away, but Gloria was much to fast for her. The two of them fell to the floor, Gloria on top of Mina. Mina struggled, but while Mina was in decent shape, she wasn’t as athletic or as large as Gloria, and above all, she simply lacked the fighting spirit.
“Quit struggling!” Gloria ordered, and she was somewhat surprised when Mina did. She just looked up at Gloria with tear filled eyes, whimpering. “Aw shit…” Gloria sighed, feeling most of the fight drain from away. People should not be this cute. It was like having a six week old kitten bite your finger. You know you should give it a little swat so it knows that it did a bad, but the thing is so damn cute looking up at you with it’s big eyes that you just can’t.
“I’m not going to hurt you Mina. Just tell me where my mom is OK?” Gloria smiled at Mina, trying to be reasonable. Mina looked like a deer in a pair of headlights. She gave a slight whimper in response, but that was it. Gloria sighed again. Gloria had conducted a lot of tickle interrogations in her time, but this was probably the first time where she knew she wasn’t going to enjoy it.
“Alright, I didn’t want to do this…” Gloria easily moved around on Mina’s prone form, trying her best to ignore her big eyes and whimpers. Gloria carefully straddled Mina’s waist and took a hold of either wrist. Mina gave no resistance as Gloria raised her arms over Mina’s head and pinned them together with one hand to the floor. Slowly, Gloria extended her hand and pressed the fingers into Mina’s left armpit. “Kitchy kitchy koo…” Gloria taunted, smiling slightly as her nails began to brush Mina’s armpit through her habit.
“Ehehhhe oh no please.” Giggles bubbled up from Mina as she began to squirm slightly. The habit was fairly good at protecting a person from tickling, Gloria had learned over the years. Particularly the ones that the nuns wore in the winter, as they seemed to be extra thick. The summer ones, like the one that Mina was wearing, weren’t as thick, but really light tickles tended to prove ineffective. One needed a firmer touch to really produce good laughter. Mina was probably only barely feeling Gloria’s touches through the cloth.
“Come on Mina, tell me what I want to hear.” Gloria increased the pressure of her touch and was rewarded by Mina’s giggles turning into full blown laughter and an increase in struggling. She was still able to hold Mina down easily enough, but holding her down wasn’t her biggest concern. The amount of noise she would make and the possibility of somebody catching them were the worries gnawing at Gloria. You just didn’t do what Gloria was doing. Were it outside of the church and if Mina wasn’t in her habit, or if Gloria were a nun herself, it might have been OK. But as things stood Gloria would find herself in a great deal of trouble if anybody else walked in on her at the moment. She needed to be quick.
“Ehehehehee please, please stop!” Mina protested, laughing and wriggling. Well, at least it was easier for Gloria to subject Mina to this with her smiling now, instead of looking like she was about to be attacked by somebody.
“Not until you talk!” Gloria cupped her hand underneath Mina slightly, allowing her to dig her thumb in and wriggle it into Mina’s armpit for some good, deep tickling.
“Aahahahaha!” Mina responded in kind, arching her back slightly, her laughter becoming more frantic as Gloria’s thumb probed about. She shook her head back in forth in a wordless “no” as she continued to laugh and struggle.
“Come on Mina, just tell me and I’ll stop.” Gloria removed her hand from Mina’s armpit, scratching it down Mina’s ribs as her body shook with laughter, and then began to spider it over Mina’s belly. “Just tell me where Dawn is, and it’ll all be over.” Gloria tried to coax Mina, though it was obvious that her fingers, not her words, were doing the real coaxing.
“Ahahahaahahah!” Mina’s laughter became worse as Gloria stroked her belly. Gloria had to admit, Mina had tighter abs than she would have expected, but hell, that just meant more for her to tickle, and tickle them she did. Gloria could tell from the way Mina’s laughter had increased and the way her stomach muscles tensed under her fingers that this was obviously a good spot to tickle. The damned habit was getting in the way though. If she was touching bare skin, Gloria bet that she could have Mina climbing the wall in hysterics, but the habit wasn’t anywhere near as convenient as a shirt. She couldn’t just lift it up and off the defenseless Mina. Even if she could, Gloria drew the line at stripping the poor girl. She had to admit she was enjoying this a little more than she expected, but there had to be limits.
“OK now Mina…I’m going to give you a few seconds break.” Gloria stopped her tickling for a moment, letting Mina get some air back into her lungs. Gloria had probably only been tickling her for five minutes, but it was obvious Mina was very ticklish, and she wasn’t exactly a willing participant in this. This wasn’t like Alicia who enjoyed tickle fights, or Rod, who on some level seemed to enjoy being tickled. This was tickling somebody against their will.
“Ehhhh….” Mina whimpered, tears of laughter streaked down her lovely face. Or at least Gloria told herself they were tears of laughter. She hated to think they were tears of anything else. Sighing, she brushed them off Mina’s cheeks, trying to ignore the way the girl flinched slightly at her touch. This was not working out like she had expected. If she didn’t get Mina to talk in the next couple of minutes, she’d say to hell with it and let her go. She couldn’t understand though why Mina was so reluctant to tell her. That was the only piece of the puzzle Gloria couldn’t figure out.
Dawn! That was it! Dawn had tormented Mina for years. She must know of a few chinks in Mina’s devilishly cute armor that Gloria could exploit. As her mind raced over the bits and pieces of information Dawn had told her about Mina, a small smile found it’s way to Gloria’s lips.
“OK, Mina, you’ve left me no choice.” Reaching down with her free hand, Gloria took a good hold of Mina’s head and turned it sideways. Mina’s didn’t resist, as Gloria had expected, and as carefully as possible, she made sure that Mina’s head was trapped. Then she leaned over, pressing her body to Mina’s feeling her breasts press against Mina’s own impressive pair. She lowered her lips to Mina’s ear. “Now, Mina, your going to talk or you get…the tongue!”
Having given her final warning, Gloria began nibbling Mina’s earlobe. “AAAAAHAHAHAHA!” Mina practically screamed, and Gloria almost pulled away from the sheer volume out of instinct alone. Gloria had been prepared for Mina’s reaction. Her mother had described, in detail, Mina’s reaction to this particular torment. How or why her mother had began playing with Mina’s ear with her mouth and tongue, Gloria didn’t want to know. All she knew was that it had apparently made Mina jump a mile. And it seemed this time was no exception.
Despite the loud response from Mina, Gloria kept at it. She nibbled the earlobe for a few more minute, before she began suckling on it. Gloria had done this to several boyfriends in the past, and as none of them were anywhere near as sensitive as Mina, it had given her plenty of time to practice her ear-to-tongue techniques. She wasn’t a master perhaps, but she knew she could turn a man into a raging hard-on with her skill. And now she was using that same skill to turn Mina into a puddle.
“NO NO NO NO AAAAAHAAHAHAH!” Mina was really howling and struggling now, and Gloria had to admit she was surprised by how desperately Mina was trying to get away. Gloria didn’t let up though. This was an all or nothing effort: if Mina didn’t talk after this, she was going to let her go, so that meant no holding back. Sliding her long tongue between her full, red lips, Gloria licked the back of Mina’s ear before she slid it inside, letting the wet appendage roll and flick around in the same ways she had done to so many boys before.
“AHAHAHAHAHA I”LL TALK AHAHAHAHA NO AHAHHA MORE!” Mina screamed after only ten seconds of the tongue invading her ear.
Gloria stopped instantly. She had no desire to torture Mina anymore than she already had, and truth be told, she was a little disgusted by her own actions to Mina. Mina was the nicest girl ever. Why couldn’t it have been somebody she would have felt less guilt about tickling?
Gloria cradled Mina’s exhausted form, stroking her face in a soothing manner as Mina laughed and giggled, slowly regaining control of her breathing. Gloria didn’t want Mina to regain too much composure though, or she might hit Gloria with the tearful puppy eyes again and hold back. “Mina…where’s my mother?”
“She…” Mina sniffled, wiped her face, but not struggling to get away from Gloria. “She took Rod to the basement.”
“She what!?” Gloria cried out, her eyes widening and her voice rising in shock. Mina for her part recoiled slightly from either the look on Gloria’s face or the volume of her voice, or possibly both. Frankly at this point, Gloria didn’t care. She grabbed Mina by the shoulders. “Why did she take him to the basement?”
“I don’t know!” Mina cried out, wincing from the force in which Gloria clung to her. “You’re hurting me!”
Gloria stopped instantly, releasing Mina as though she had been slapped in the face. Somewhere this had gone from something that had been intended as being playful fun to something much more serious. Yes, she had wanted to find her mother, but she had gone too far. Poor Mina was practically trembling under her. Gloria slowly got to her feet.
“I am so sorry Mina.” Gloria extended a hand, which after a moments hesitation, Mina cautiously accepted. Gloria pulled Mina to her feet, surprised by how light she was. Once Mina was on her feet, Gloria had a hard time looking her in the eye. “Mina…I don’t know how to begin to apologize…”
“It’s OK” Mina’s words were gentle and tender. “You didn’t mean to harm me, so it’s OK” Mina wiped her face sniffling a little. She smiled softly at Gloria. “Besides, I’m used to Dawn’s antics, so this isn’t so bad.”
“I promise I’ll make it up to you Mina.” Gloria wasn’t really sure how. She’d have offered Mina revenge if she thought that Mina would have actually taken it, but this was Mina. The girl didn’t even kill mosquitoes that landed on her.
“It’s OK, really.” Mina smiled. Her face then took on a look of concern. “Um, you’re not going to tell Dawn I told you, are you?”
“No, no, of course not. Pinky swear.” Gloria held up her hand and extended her pinky. Mina hesitated, then reached her own hand up and locked pinky fingers with Gloria, giving it a little shake.
“Now, I really must get these sandwiches done. I can still make you one if you like.” Mina offered.
“You’re much too generous Mina.” Gloria shook her head. “Thank you, but I have bigger fish to fry.” Gloria thanked Mina one more time, and then quickly hurried towards the basement.
11:25 AM
“I’m going to kill her. I’m going to fucking kill her.” Gloria was fuming as she headed into the church basement. Admittedly, Gloria wasn’t 100% sure of what was going on, but there were few reasons for Dawn to take Rod somewhere secluded. The main reason burning in Gloria’s mind had better not have been the real reason, or Gloria…well, Gloria wasn’t exactly sure what she would do, but it would be bad.
There were two basements in the church. One was the newer basement, which had the wine cellar and was mainly used as a storeroom for tables and chairs for bingo, and many other church related events. The other basement was the original basement of the church. Dawn had showed it to Gloria once and had reminisced about the fact that it barely ever got used these days and how she wondered what it had been like when the basement was in full use. Gloria was willing to bet that the older basement was the one Dawn had gone to. After all, what better a place to go to and not be disturbed than a place filled with private rooms that were hardly ever used. Hell, it was even pretty well sound-proofed. It wouldn’t hide all of the noise a person made, but unless you were pretty loud, nobody was going to hear you, and they definitely wouldn’t hear you upstairs even if you were loud.
As she moved down the stairs in quick, though careful steps, Gloria’s thoughts of anger were interrupted by the sounds of laughter. They were muffled, and as Gloria stepped into the main basement room, she could tell which of the small rooms it was coming from. She knew that laughter very well. It belonged to Rod, and from the sounds of things, he had probably been tickled for some time now. Gloria had heard enough of Rod’s laughter to know when it was fresh or not.
As Gloria approached the door, she stopped. The laughter had stopped, and she could hear the sound of muffled voices. Just barely, but she could hear them. She couldn’t make out what was being said however. The fact that the tickling had stopped though worried Gloria a little. Either Dawn was giving Rod a few minute breather, or she had finished tickling him. Gloria decided to play it safe and quickly bolted around the corner, peeking around it to see if Dawn and Rod exited the room. Only a minute later the door opened and Dawn stepped out but there was no Rod with her. Dawn didn’t see Gloria, her mind on other things more than likely, and considering the large grin on her face, Gloria had to wonder what those other things were.
Dawn then turned and walked out of the basement, leaving Gloria to puzzle as to what was going on. Why would Dawn leave Rod? Perhaps Rod was waiting a few minutes to follow her? Possible, but Gloria didn’t think that was it. Well, she supposed there was only one way to find out. Gloria began to walk towards the door, then stopped in mid step.
What if she opened that door and found Rod naked? What if Dawn and Rod really did have sex? Gloria had been so focused on how angry she would be that she hadn’t really thought of the ramifications of such an event. Yes, she would be angry, but that was only one facet of it. She’d also be extremely hurt. If Dawn and Rod did have sex, the ramifications to her life would be huge. Gloria doubted she’d ever be able to forgive Rod and Dawn for that. Not to mention that the friendship between herself, Mandy, Alicia and Rod would be strained, if not destroyed, and that friendship was sacred to Gloria.
Perhaps it was best to just walk away and leave Dawn and Rod to whatever they were doing. After all, if Gloria couldn’t confirm that they had sex, then there could be any number of reasons that this situation could have unfolded. Gloria certainly didn’t know everything. There were probably parts of the puzzle she was missing. Yes, that was assuredly it. Dawn and Rod weren’t having sex. They were doing something else. This basement was used for Penance after all, and even though it rarely got used, certainly Rod could be being punished for something, right? And Dawn was an expert when it came to tickling Rod, so it only made sense for her to be his cleanser. Sure, that made sense…
Gloria sighed, shaking her head. Even though it was a possibility, Gloria doubted Rod would have kept to himself something big enough to get him locked up in here. At least the part with her mother made sense, but for Rod, the piece just didn’t fit. She could still leave though. Let sleeping dogs lie...
Gloria looked towards the staircase, then at the door to Rod’s room, then back at the staircase again. She couldn’t just leave. Not like this. Confronting Rod had it’s risks, but not confronting him would only lead to paranoia and eventually anger, and by the time she confronted him about what happened, when the anger and paranoia became to much for her to bear, would she be able to trust his words? Gloria would have liked to think so, but she knew better. Taking a deep breath and steadying herself, Gloria placed her hand on the door knob and opened the door.
11:45 AM
“Gloria?!”
“Rod? Oh my god!” Gloria hadn’t been sure what to expect when she opened the door. Seeing Rod almost naked, wearing a loin cloth and being strapped down on one of the racks was not one of the possibilities that entered her mind, and despite her apprehension before opening the door, she found it quickly evaporating as she struggled not to laugh out loud at the scene. “What the hell did my mother do to you?”
“She made me wear this and tickled the hell out of me.” Rod grumbled, obviously not seeing the humor in the situation that Gloria saw. Understandable, of course. Gloria imagined she wouldn’t be too happy if Rod walked in on her like this and she was dressed like Princess Leia or something.
“That’s not the only thing she’s done. Boing!” Gloria burst out laughing. Despite his complaints though, Gloria couldn’t help but notice the rather large bulge in between his legs. Gloria had to give her mother credit. She knew how to dress a man to make him revealing but not totally revealed. Truth be told, this was the closest to naked she had ever seen Rod, and it was a little arousing seeing him like this. And check out the size of that bush whacker! Gloria had always known Rod was well equipped, but damn! “Jesus Rod, I knew you were big, but God really broke the mold when he made you, didn’t he?”
“Just untie me before she gets back, OK?” Rod shifted about on the rack, not looking too pleased.
“Alright, alright.” Gloria smiled at him. Rod wasn’t going to live this one down for a while, and had she more time, Gloria probably would have tormented him a little more. Perhaps even tickled him a bit herself. But now wasn’t the time for that. Gloria walked behind the rack and looked at the various cranks and pulleys. Hmmm… “For a primitive device it looks a little more complicated than I thought.” Gloria took a hold of one of the cranks and gave it a slight pull. “How’s this?”
“Ouch ouch ouch!” Rod cried out. “Watch it!”
“Sorry sorry sorry!” Gloria quickly turned the wheel in the opposite direction. Shit, that was not part of the plan. Even though this device was just meant to hold a person, it was still capable of tearing out a person's shoulder sockets. She’d have to be very careful here.
“Better.” Rod sighed with relief. Rod looked upwards towards Gloria as she looked over the device. “What are you doing here by the way?”
“Well, Dawn didn’t come out of the church so I was pretty much stranded here. I kicked around for a while, but when she didn’t answer her phone, I went looking for her. Eventually found you here.” Gloria gave the rack a little kick in frustration. “I wish Mandy was here. She’s a lot better at this technical stuff.” Mandy would have been able to figure this out.
“It should be fairly simple. Turn the wheel one way to tighten, and turn it the other way to loosen.” Rod commented.
“If it was that easy, I would have un-cranked you or whatever by now.” Gloria pointed out. Who would have thought a rack would be so complicated? Gloria tried turning another wheel, but nothing happened.
“OK, how about you open the stocks part for the moment then?” Rod suggested.
“OK, I’ll try but I think it had a lock on it.” Gloria answered, circling around to the bottom of the rack to inspect the stocks. Yup, there was a lock alright, and sadly not the type involving a sliding bar. “Shit, there is.” Gloria then looked up and giggled. “I see Paris, I see France, I see what should be being covered by Rod’s underpants.” Of course, she couldn’t see anything. Unfortunately the loin cloth was effective enough to cover him up, but it did leave VERY little to the imagination. However, the fact that she couldn’t see anything didn’t mean she couldn’t mess with Rod a little. Her petty revenge for making her worry.
“Hey, come on, stop it!” Rod shifted around on the rack, his cheeks burning. Gloria had to admit, much like her mother, she got a sadistic pleasure out of making Rod squirm from time to time. “Look for a key or something and get me out of this.”
“Just kidding, Rod.” Gloria smiled and turned around to look in the closet for a key. What was he shy about? The boy had a pole in his pants that would give most porn stars a run for their money. Gloria wondered if that was what her mother liked about Rod. The fact that he had a huge cock. Well, it had certainly been pointing north of the border when Gloria had walked in. “She really knows how to get your engine going, doesn’t she?”
“She just knows how to press my buttons, I guess,” was the response Gloria heard.
“Yeah, your buttons and every other man's buttons.” Gloria stood up. She was starting to get angry. It was true though. How many other men had Dawn flirted with over the years? How many times had Gloria brought boyfriends to the house, only to see their eyes dart past her to Dawn? Yes, Dawn had bigger tits. Yes, she was prettier and sexier and she understood that guys liked that, but did they have any idea of how much it hurt her? How their wandering eyes always ended up on Dawn instead of her? She was the one they were fucking. She was the one sucking their dicks, and letting them mount her in the backs of their cars. Her, not her mother! But they always looked at Dawn. Always Dawn! “Do you have any idea what it’s like to have a friend who wants to fuck your mother?”
“Whoa, whoa, who said I wanted to fuck your mother?” Rod was quickly taking a defensive position, obviously more than a little shocked by her reaction.
“Aside from the throbbing erection? You love it when she flirts with you. You loved it when you were younger and you still love it. Don’t try and tell me you don’t have a crush on her, I know you do!” Gloria advanced on Rod. Her voice was rising. She was just so angry. But she was also sad, because she knew the answer. She might as well not have asked the question, but she did anyway. Because she wanted another answer. She wanted him to deny it. Tell her it wasn’t true. Just lie to me. Even if it’s a lie I’ll believe it. Just don’t tell me it’s true. Please God, just tell me it’s not true…and I’ll believe you.
The silence seemed to make time stretch. Rod was looking at her, eyes wide. He had never seen her like this. This angry towards him. He seemed to be searching for the words. Every second was unbearable, but Gloria had to bare it. She had no choice. Just lie to me Rod…please…just lie…
“Look I…I do have a crush on your mom.” The answer was like a dagger in Gloria’s heart. Yes, she had known it, but as long as it never became spoken, so long as the truth was allowed to be buried, she could pretend ignorance.
“See.” Gloria looked at Rod with disgust, and went back to rooting around in the closet. She felt like curling up into a ball and just crying. She should have known. In the end she just couldn’t compete with Dawn. As usual, she was just second best.
“But I would never have sex with her. I’d never risk our friendship
like that.” Rod continued from the rack after a moment.
“Well, that just makes it all better doesn’t it?” Gloria scoffed over her shoulder. Friendship…somehow the word seemed so hollow at the moment. Is that all I’ve ever been to you Rod? A friend? Yeah, I guess so. “If you don’t want to have sex with her, why don’t you tell her to stop? Tell her you’re not interested. But you never did that, did you? Yeah, you don’t want to have sex with her alright.”
“I don’t.” Rod’s tone of voice was changing. He was beginning to get angry. Why bother denying it? Gloria was used to men wanting to fuck her mother. Rod was just another to add to the list.
“Yeah? Then why haven’t you told her to stop if you’re not interested?” Gloria continued to route around in the closet. Part of her didn’t even want to look at Rod at the moment. Yet, she was still looking in the closet for the keys, because even though he might not feel for her the way he did about him, she still loved him, and he was one of her best friends.
“Because…”
“Because why?” Gloria turned around when Rod didn’t finish his sentence. What, did he think she couldn’t take it?
“Never mind...” Rod turned away. Gloria’s anger flared.
“No! Not never mind!” Gloria yelled. She slammed her hands down on the bottom of the rack so hard they throbbed, but she didn’t care. “I wanna know! That’s it, tell me how she’s prettier than me! How she has bigger boobs than me! Tell me how she can do everything I can do better than me!”
“FINE!” Rod yelled at her. Rod had never yelled at any of them before, and Gloria’s anger was momentarily forgotten in shock from his outburst. “You wanna know why I like it when your mother flirts me? I’ll tell you why! Because when your mother flirts with me, it feels good. Yes, it does arouse me. But its much more than that. You don’t know what its like to be a nothing. Look at you! You’re gorgeous. You have a line up a mile wide of guys willing to take you out. Know how many girls I have? None! But your mother, when she flirts with me, I feel handsome! I feel smart! I feel like somebody beautiful could actually like me! Somebody like-“ Rod’s mouth snapped shut and he turned away, breathing hard.
Gloria couldn’t speak. She couldn’t breathe. All she could do was look at Rod. Somebody like…who? Who was it that Rod wanted to like him? Was it her? Was she the women that Rod cared for, and not her mother? Gloria had fantasized about it for so long, but it had been nothing more than that. A deep longing she had never dared dream of being returned. The possibility of that fantasy being a reality both excited her and terrified her. She had to know though. At this point, she had gone too far, and now she had to know.
Gloria walked around the rack slowly and gently reached out; taking Rods face in her gentle hands, moving him so he was looking at her. “Somebody like who, Rod?” Rod tried to pull away, but Gloria held his head firmly. “Somebody like who?”
“Somebody like you Gloria.” Rod finally answered his voice soft as he spoke. He pulled his head away again, and this time Gloria didn’t stop him. “I…like you Gloria. I have for a long time now.”
Me! It’s me! He likes me, not her! Gloria felt like she couldn’t breathe again. She wanted to cry with joy. He chose me! “Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Her voice was soft, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it would break through her chest.
“Because…” Rod slowly turned to look at her. “Because I’m me, and you're you.” Rod looked at her, his eyes finding hers. . “You’re always talking about getting out of here. Becoming a star or something, and you can do it. You're pretty enough and talented enough and smart enough that you could pull it off. You should be with somebody who can give you everything you want. I’m, at best, middle class. I’m not strong, or smart, or good looking. The best I could offer you is a medium size house with a twenty-five year mortgage and if we’re lucky, two cars in the driveway. I…I don’t have anything to offer you.”
Gloria was surprised to see a tear run down Rods cheek. She understood it though. The belief, that no matter how much you loved a person, you weren’t good enough. That you could never be better than the competition. Yes, Gloria knew that Hell well. How ironic that they had been sharing the same cell in Hell, and neither of them even knew it.
“You could have offered me yourself.” Gloria smiled sadly. How many years had the two of them suffered for nothing? Gloria ran her hand along Rod’s arm, reaching up and entwining her fingers with his, squeezing tightly. “That’s enough for me to stay.” Gloria closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to his. She felt like she was in some magnificent dream she never wanted to wake from. She caressed Rod’s face with her other hand.
“But…Gloria…I…” Rod’s voice was confused, surprised. Gloria couldn’t blame him for that.
“Shhh…” Gloria whispered softly, her eyes slowly opening. She wanted him. She needed him. Right then, right there, she needed to feel Rod inside her, to make it real. To turn the dream into flesh and bone. “Don’t say anything.” Gloria leaned down, her breathing heavy, her heart pounding, and she pressed her lips to Rod’s, kissing him more passionately than she had ever kissed any man.
